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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Guinea: Women Victims of Warfare

Women were brutally raped by soldiers during violent repression of an anti-junta demonstration in Guinea that left more than 120 people dead, according to opposition groups and witnesses.

"They were raping women publicly," opposition activist Mouctar Diallon in an interview with French radio station RFI. "Soldiers were shooting everywhere and I saw people fall. They were live bullets," Diallo added.

An opposition party led by former prime minister Sydia Toure said at least 128 people had died in the violence and the junta was removing bodies in a bid to hide "the scale of the massacre". The party also accused junta forces of rape.

The rapes began in the stadium where opposition supporters had gathered Monday for a demonstration, said Mamadi Kaba, the head of the Guinean branch of the African Encounter for the Defence of Human Rights (RADDHO), based in Dakar.

Asked who was carrying out these atrocities, Diallo said "it's the presidential guard" and "police officers."

The United Nations, African Union, European Union and leading powers all condemned the killings which the Guinea opposition said was a deliberate attempt to eliminate them.